...I guess it's a little late in the season for that.
Oh, well. It still looks like a Christmas movie outside our windows with all the fluffy snow. I guess it counts!
Hubby and I are doing only homemade meals for the next two weeks, which means no prepackaged meals and no eating out. I am hoping it will inspire me to cook for almost every meal! (Lunches will always be leftovers since we both have full-time jobs.)
Tuesday we went through a bunch of my cookbooks and my old recipes and picked out several to do in the near future. Wednesday I was feeling 100% uninspired to do any kind of thinking so I looked at the list and settled on twice baked potatoes. The ones on the list were different than these, but the basic idea was still there!
These are somewhat inspired by the twice-baked potatoes from one of my vegetarian cookbooks, but I'm pretty sure it's just called Vegetarian so I can't find a link to it online.
Onward!
P.S., if you are on a New Years Resolution diet, you should probably leave now. These aren't for you. Unless you like cheat days! In which case, welcome.
Let's get down to it:
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour 30 minutes - 2 hours
Yields: 16 potato halves
Ingredients:
8 small potatoes, whole
~1/8 teaspoon salt
2-3 tablespoons sour cream
1/2 cup soy milk
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 onion
1 garlic clove
1/4-1/2 teaspoon poultry herbs, fresh (rosemary, thyme and sage)
1. Start with your potatoes. If you left them alone too long like I did, they make look like this.
That's okay! Just break off the little sprouts. Good as new. You can also cut out any bruises, etc.
2. Scrub the heck out of your potatoes with a potato brush. (Bridal shower gift from my friend Lisa!) Or have your hubby scrub the heck out of them, like I did.
Potatoes grow in the dirt, and they generally still have dirt all over them when you purchase them. (Unless you grow your own in which case you are very well versed in how much dirt is on them. More power to you!) You wouldn't have known that if I didn't tell you, right?
Prick each potato several times with a fork.
Grab some salt.
And rub it into the potato skins.
A teeny-tiny bit goes a long way, here, and adds a ton of flavor! I was never a huge fan of baked potatoes when I was little because I didn't like the skins, but with the little bit o' salt, they actually taste just fine on their own.
3. Set your potatoes onto a cookie sheet.
But wait! says someone in the back. There are nine potatoes! The recipe says 8!
Why yes, savvy reader, there are nine. There will also be fifteen halves at the end.
How is this possible?
Maybe someday you can master the Art of Potato Mutilation like I have, and you, too, can toss or snack on the unusable pieces! Maybe. If you're lucky. It really is a skill. In my defense, the chunks missing were intentional due to bruising and such.
Anyway.
4. Bake these suckers at 375 degrees F for about an hour, until the potatoes are soft. If they're not soft all the way through, pop them back in. Don't be stubborn like I did and use mostly-cooked potatoes because you don't feel like waiting.
5. While those are in there, let's get started on what we'll combine with the potatoes when they come out.
Start with your sour cream.
Change the background for your photo so it doesn't look like you're cooking this, and add in the soy milk and mix until smooth.
Then the butter. Softened would be a good idea. Don't be like me and add it in a little block like this.
6. Chop your onions.
Mince your garlic.
In a sprayed or nonstick skillet, sauté those until they are tender and slightly starting to caramelize.
Add in your minced herbs, which are actually sold in my grocery store as "poultry herbs" in a three-pack.
7. Pour the onion mix into the sour cream mix.
Mix it all up.
Add another little pinch of salt, and set aside.
8. Once your potatoes are ready, pull them out and slice them in half lengthwise.
I think everyone has a specific way of doing this, so do it however the heck you'd like, but this is how I do it: Use an oven mitt to hold them, since they're hot. Cut into the flesh near the right side with your spoon, angling toward the center.
Then into the end.
Then the left side.
And pop it out! Gently scrape out any extras.
If you're too rough on the potatoes, the skin will break and then you won't have a proper shell anymore. (Trust me, I know.)
Add the potato flesh to the sour cream mixture as you go. Do the same for all of the potatoes.
9. Once all of the potatoes have been scooped out, use a potato masher or a fork to combine them.
If the mix seems a little dry, add a little more soy milk.
10. Grab one of your potato shells. Also grab a large spoonful of the mix.
Plop that into your shell.
Rinse and repeat for all the potatoes!
(But don't actually rinse, because that would be gross.)
I tend to fill my shells shallowly at first so that I know for sure I will have enough leftovers to give each shell a heaping amount of filling.
11. And now, the twice-baked part: Put them back in for another 30-45 minutes or until the top is just starting to darken.
Tada!
So cute!
These are especially great with little salt potatoes, because they're almost bite-sized. I just used the potatoes we had on hand.
Enjoy!
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